Things Lost
by Onhiro
Summary: Future AU based, detailing the attack in which Ruby gets terribly injured. Can stand alone, but I might continue the story if people show enough interest and/or request it.
1. Things Lost

**AN- So, yeah, been super duper pumped about the second season of RWBY rocking the Crunchyroll world. Funny how a sixteen minute episode featuring a food fight is more interesting than the four episodes of SAO 2 that I've seen so far. Meh.**

**Anyway, I've been tooling around the internet, and I found future versions of team RWBY under the Future AU (see Amipiai and funblade on tumblr if you like RWBY at all. Seriously. Do it.) and, well, my creative process took off like Ruby's final attack during the food fight. I've been working on this little bad boy for the past week or so, and I'm going to give you fair warning. **

**_M for violence and vividly described wounds_. I'm an EMT and work at a hospital on the ICU, so I've seen some pretty bad stuff.**

**I took a few artistic liberties, such as the creation of the Crimson Claw. I interpreted Blake's position as an attempt to not only be an advocate for Faunus rights, but also to try to reach out to the White Fang, being a past member. I see it was White Fang continuing to lean more radical, but they're starting to come around to reason, especially with the Schnee Dust Company working to improve Faunus rights. So, you have the splinter group, Crimson Claw, who will not see reason, who only desire to see humanity burn for its transgressions.**

**Other than that, the original concept for RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth, and the Future AU concept belongs to Amipiai and funblade. Seriously. Check out their stuff.**

THINGS LOST

The taste of dust lay heavily in the back of Weiss Schnee's throat, and she coughed, nearly retching at the chalky taste of the residue. Everything hurt, and all she could hear was a loud ringing. What…what had happened? She groaned, cracking open her eyes, and gagged as the light speared into the back of her eyes. She tried to get to her hands and knees, but the world spun violently, threatening to throw her into space every time she so much as got her head off the ground. _Concussion, and a bad one…wait, how did I end up on the ground?_ Feebly, she rolled onto her back, and again opened her eyes.

A cheerful blue sky greeted her, perfect save for the pillar of angry black smoke that continued to expand and devour her view. Why was there smoke, hadn't she been at the company headquarters? Something was terribly wrong, something that went beyond the pain and the smoke and the confusion. She was missing something, forgetting _something_ that was more important than anything else, but what was it?!

The sun was blocked off, and she blinked in shock at the man who had suddenly appeared above her, a look of victorious blood lust clear in his eyes as he pointed a handgun at her head. Everything crawled to a stop as she recognized the unkempt uniform marking the man as a Crimson Claw, the most radical and violent separatist faction of the White Fang. She was going to die. The realization struck her like an avalanche. No strength to fight or flee, not enough Aura to protect herself…she was going to die because of what her ancestors had done.

The man shouted something with a mad grin that she couldn't hear as he carefully aimed the gun at her, and she had never seen anything as big as the mouth of the barrel. _Oh, God, Ruby, I'm so sorry_! she wailed, but before the man could fire, there was a streak of golden fire that barreled into him. Weiss sobbed in relief as she recognized Yang. But the relief turned into terror as Yang looked down at her, face hidden by wild hair, only her burning red eyes visible. Never before had Weiss seen Yang so enraged. A second Crimson Claw member flew through the air at the two of them, a staff of some sort raised in attack, and before Weiss could shout out a warning, Yang burst into violent, efficient action. A kick to the legs to redirect him, an elbow to the stomach to ground him, and then, with a frightfully blank, determined face, Yang slammed her fist into the man's head while firing Ember Celica.

Now Weiss was unable to deny the nausea that had been plaguing her as the man's head exploded in a smear of grey and red. She turned, vomiting so hard that she was sure that she tore a muscle, and tears began to course down her cheeks. Normally Yang would beat assailants into submission, not kill them! What made her so angry? Weiss gasped as her stomach stopped heaving, and winced as sweat and tears dripped into a wound that she didn't remember getting and hadn't noticed until now. Fingers trembling, she touched the line of fire underneath her eye. Blood. Blood from her left eye. She swallowed back more vomit and painful memories. Now was not the time to continue acting like a sniveling child. They were under attack, and the Crimson Claw never did anything halfway. Even now she could feel more than hear Yang fighting against more opponents, the bass deep blasts of Ember Celica thudding against her chest. Her friend needed help.

She struggled to her feet, hand seeking Myrtenaster at her hip. As her hand wrapped around the practice and battle worn hilt, a semblance of calmness returned to her. _I am a Schnee, and I _will _fight with everything that I have!_ But then, the strength of the Schnee family was not in their own ability, formidable as it was, but in the strength of those around them. A flash of movement caught Weiss's eyes, and she looked up as Blake fell from the sky, trench coat streaming out behind her like a banner. Even before landing, she attacked, Gambol Shroud whipping through the air and striking victims. Then she landed, yanking back on her ribbon tied to Gambol Shroud so that it landed in her hand. As like Yang, she was visibly infuriated as she darted into the fray around Yang, her shadow clones helping her carve through the Crimson Claw who were too stupid to run away. And then Weiss was surrounded by security personnel as more streamed past her to help Yang and Blake. Weiss watched with relief as her two friends continued to make short work of the terrorists. _Now all we need is Ruby, and-_

The world greyed, spun, and she could just barely hear the cries of concern around her as she dropped to a knee. It all made sense, now. The feeling that something was terribly wrong, why Yang and Blake were so angry, why Yang would just _kill_ a faunus like that…Ruby _had_ been there. And she remembered now, Yang waiting by her motorcycle for Blake to come out so that they could go on a date, and Ruby's surprise appearance, fresh from a hunt that Weiss had known to be particularly hard and draining. She had been slightly concerned at how low her friend's Aura was, but they were at the Schnee Company Headquarters building. What could go wrong?

A truck, full of Dust, passing by on regular delivery as it headed for the warehouse, Yang's startled shouted warning, a rocket screaming out from a nondescript van that had been waiting in the parking lot, and Ruby…Weiss felt like someone was tearing her heart in two as she remembered the lightning fast glance that Ruby had thrown towards the threat before she made eye contact with Weiss with grim, determined eyes, eyes that practically screamed _I will keep you safe, no matter the cost!_ A burst of rose petals, warm and strong arms around her, a blossoming explosion, and then painful impact and encompassing darkness.

"RUBY!" Weiss screamed, coughing again at the concrete dust that coated the back of her throat. Her hearing was slowly returning as the ringing diminished, and she wanted nothing more than to hear the comforting, excitable voice of her best friend. But only the muffled voices of her security team answered her, begging her to get back inside, to safety. But she threw their hands off of her as she stumbled forward. She winced as she brought her arm up to shield her face from the blistering heat and choking, blinding smoke emanating from the inferno that was consuming the skeletal frame of the obliterated truck. The driver was undoubtedly dead, and she felt a pang of guilt even as she realized that it had probably been painless, as fast as it had happe-

She tripped, fell, skinning her palms on painfully hot concrete, and she turned to see what she had fallen over. The moment she made sense of the incomprehensible _thing_ before her, she wished that she could take it out of her mind's eye, but the severed forearm and hand that still had a tattered and smoldering black sleeve with the white furred cuff covering it would remain seared in her memory, a source of nightmares for years to come. Once more the world greyed, spun, and she was dimly aware that she wasn't breathing, but that was not as important as _Ruby's arm lying in front of her!_ Her vision began to dim, tunneling down until all she could see was the arm that still leaked blood, blood that steamed as it pooled onto the hot pavement.

Someone grabbed her shoulder, shouting something that didn't make it over the great distance that she had travelled from reality. But the touch did pull her attention away from the…_thing_ that lay there, almost innocent in its horribleness. Dumbly, she looked at the security guard who was shouting again at her, and it was with great effort that she pulled herself back from the brink of oblivion.

"-found her, we've found Miss Rose! Miss Schnee, we've got her, you need to get up and move!"

"Found…Ruby?" she asked, her voice sounding like someone else had asked the question through her body. Then the sentence made sense, and she lurched forward, shaken eyes seeking and finding the cluster of guards, a red cloak, once majestic, barely visible between their legs. The ground rose up to meet her, but the guard helped her forward, towards her friend.

Another guard spotted them, and ran forward, shouting angrily, but the guard helping her hoisted her up as she almost lost her footing. "Piss off!" he snarled at the angry guard. "This is something she needs to do! Now where's our bloody air support?!"

Almost as though in answer to his question, three Bullheads with the Schnee symbol on their sides screamed overhead, the two lead craft pouring fire on the rapidly retreating Crimson Claw and the third coming in for a rapid landing, almost dangerously close to the burning truck. It touched down just as Weiss finally reached her friend, but she was wholly unaware of the heavily armed and armored security personnel escorting multiple EMS teams pouring out of the back of the craft. No, her attention was solely fixed on her friend and team leader.

Later, she would grimly reflect that it was astounding how circumstances can change how one reacted to strenuous situations. The sight that greeted her was worse, by far, from anything she had seen that day…no, worse than _anything_ she had ever seen before. But she didn't break down and faint, though she oh so very desperately wanted to. She couldn't. If she did, she'd be failing her team leader, and that was not acceptable for Ruby's best team member. Instead, she knelt, and gently pulled Ruby into her lap as she bit back tears. Her fingers hovered over Ruby, just inches above the ruined flesh that covered nearly half of the younger girl's face. She tried to be grounded, looking past the cracked, bleeding, and burnt flesh for any sign of her right eye, but where the eye should have been was nothing more than a gelatinous mass. "Oh, Ruby, you dolt!" she sobbed as she glanced at the right arm that was also heavily burnt up past the elbow, and the wound was so bad that Weiss couldn't tell just how extensive the damage was.

Wound care had been a class during their academy days, and she hated the objective part of her that looked at the long strips of burnt and bleeding flesh that led away from the elbow and categorized it as a tearing rather than a lacerated amputation. She could see bone, some white, other bits burnt and charred. _Idiot! What do you do with an amputation? Act, don't just stare at it!_

Blinking, she burst into action, pulling her ribbon from her hair. Even as her security shouted for the medics to get to them, _now goddammit!_ she made a quick tourniquet, tightening it as much as she could, glad to see the bleeding slow. Then Ruby grunted, the miraculously untouched half of her face tightening in a pained grimace. Then her one eye cracked open, silver dazed and unfocused. "Weiss?" she croaked. "R'y'kay?"

"You little insufferable brat!" Weiss hissed. "Why did you do that? Why didn't you save yourself?!"

"Go' be th'bes' tm'leader poss'bl," she slurred. "Gld to hear yr 'kay." Then her gaze focused. "Yr bleeding." She reached up with her left hand, gently touching Weiss under her left eye. "I failed," she moaned as she looked at her bloody fingertips, voice broken and sadder than Weiss could bear. Ruby's eye drifted shut and teams of medics crowded around, and Weiss tried to stop them as they began to ease Ruby away from her, careful to stabilize Ruby's head and neck. But then Blake had her in her strong, capable arms.

"The area is secure, Miss Schnee," the faunus shouted into her ear, all business. "Let them do their job, a second team is waiting to check you over."

"No, Ruby takes all precedence," Weiss snapped as she turned to glare at Blake, impatient and terribly frustrated at her professional and cold demeanor. That was _Ruby_ that they were putting an oxygen mask on, didn't Blake care at all?!

A flicker of sympathy and pain ran through Blake's eyes. "Weiss, I know it hurts to see her like that," she said as she gestured at Ruby, and Weiss winced as one of the security guards picked up the severed arm and placed it in a bag of ice, "but you got banged up pretty bad. You _need_ to be checked out. If you suffered serious brain damage and didn't get it caught fast enough, Ruby's…" and her voice faltered as she glanced away, "Ruby's _sacrifice_ will have been for nothing."

Weiss wanted to resist, wanted to scream and shout, to find and _kill_ those Crimson Claw who had managed to escape in the confusion, but Blake was, as always, correct. "Fine!" she snapped bitterly. "But she gets loaded first, she gets seen by the doctors first, she gets priority in _everything_ until I say otherwise, is that understood?" she hissed, and Blake nodded. "So then why isn't that Bullhead in the air yet?" she asked, a shred of her tattered Schnee pride flickering to the fore as she forced herself to stand straight and proud.

Blake stared at her, smirked, and gave a minute shake of her head. Then she, too, stood tall and proud, the picture of the head security officer. "Roger, Miss Schnee. I will personally escort Miss Rose to the hospital."

Weiss watched as Blake turned and moved towards the medics who were working quickly and with capable precision that spoke of much practice, and within minutes, Ruby was packaged on a stretcher and loaded into the waiting Bullhead. As it screamed into liftoff under full power, Weiss watched, feet braced shoulder width apart, hands clasped loosely behind her back. Her ears were still ringing faintly, her body hurt all over, though the pain in her heart dwarfed what she felt in her body. But she was a symbol, the head of the Schnee Dust Company, and she would not be bowed. She gave a cool glance at the ruined truck, and with a flourish, she drew Myrtenaster, aimed, and let fly with an Ice Dust. Cooly aware of the medics watching her apprehensively, she felt a surge of satisfaction as the truck was swallowed by ice crystals, the fire obliterated instantly. The Crimson Claw was still watching, likely recording this on a Scroll. Let them see that she was not afraid, was not cowed. No, instead she was filled with a grim anger. She nodded to Yang as the blonde picked her way over the dead and the wounded. "They will pay most dearly for this, Yang."

Yang didn't reply, stonily silent as still red eyes surveyed the parking lot that had become a battle field. Weiss didn't need a reply. No doubt her sentiment was shared not only amongst her, Yang, and Blake, but amongst many in Vale. Ruby was popular. For the Crimson Claw to hurt her was a mistake that few of them would live to regret. Weiss turned, sweeping her half cape over her shoulder as she stiffly marched towards the waiting EMS team and Bullhead. Half formed visions of delicious, brutal vengeance were pushed towards the back of her mind. For now, Ruby's health was a far nobler prospect. Those terrorist freaks would get their comeuppance soon enough. For now, her friend of all friends, her _team leader_ needed her support, and she would get it.

After all, what else was being the best teammate ever for?


	2. Author's Note

**AN- The continuation of this story can be found under my profile name or by searching for The Long, Hard Road under RWBY. Please feel free to head over there and check it out.**

**Guess I couldn't resist such a wonderful playground, after all...**


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